


To Save Monsters

by GothMoth



Series: May's Phantastical Callings [5]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Dan On Parole, Danny Is NOT Happy With This At All, Ghost King Danny Fenton, Multi, Redemption, Trials, dan being a little shit, mentions of what Dan did
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-30
Updated: 2019-06-28
Packaged: 2020-05-28 14:25:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19396003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GothMoth/pseuds/GothMoth
Summary: Sometimes wrong is right





	1. A Sister Always Has Her Reasons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A man stands trial for his actions and Jazz knows this isn’t right, even if everyone including her brother disagrees.

Jazz stands in front of the chained and restrained ghost, who ceases his glaring at the crowd, confused by her actions, as she shouts, “no! You’re not even going to give him a chance?! It’s been years!”.

Even Danny joins the Observants in gaping at his sister, whispering at her, “Jazz are you insane? You know what he’s done. What he’s capable of. What the hell are you thinking?”. 

Jazz is one of the few people that can’t actually hear him though, due to not having a ghosts heightened senses. So she doesn’t respond or acknowledges Danny’s bafflement as one of the Observants speaks, “he’s responsible for the near destruction of the earth, ghost zone and all existence on it. He can not be allowed free, kept conscious or even be allowed to continue to exist”. Another, more curious, Observant chimes in, “what say you that should even debate as to otherwise?”. 

Jazz glares around the room, looking downright pissed at their suggestion to destroy the man behind her, “he's still a person! People mess up! Yes, he messed up beyond anything imaginable or tolerable. And yes he did it completely willingly. But circumstances matter! Could even a single one of you claim he was genuinely in a sane and healthy state of mind?”.

“And what makes you think he’s any different now or will ever be?”

“What was essentially solitary confinement for years is going to have an effect. To think otherwise is completely foolish! Whether that’s due to the lack of contact or the inability to harm anyone, doesn’t matter. When you separate a person from actions and others, the effect is always profound. At the very least he had time to think over everything he’s done”. Danny watches as the chained man stares at the ground as she talks, and he can’t help but remember Vlad from the futures words, “if any good came out of this, it’s ten years without ghost powers. Gave me the chance to see what a fool I had been”. But he’s not sure if a second chance here, is such a good idea. The stakes are so much higher, all that future Vlad had to atone for was being a crappy person and multiple attempted murders; that hardly compares to nearly wiping out all life and death.

“At the very least you could give him the chance to lead a different life than the one before. Someone’s past does not determine their future! Especially if you give them a clear path to change”, Jazz shakes her head angrily at one of the Observants and talks right over them, “even if he didn’t take any opportunity to change before, why would he?! Routine is a hard-fought battle to break, even more so when everyone treats you like nothing but a villain and a monster! Why would you stop doing something if everyone is just going to assume you’re doing it anyway?! And that’s not to mention that he was happy doing what he did and believed nothing could stop him, yes it was wrong and yes he deserved the punishment he got for it. But punishments shouldn’t be a life sentence unless the persons proves they cannot change!”. 

It’s pretty clear that a good portion are actually seeming almost guilty, Hell even Danny looks a bit guilty. But Danny’s notorious for his kind heart so Jazz doesn’t let that get her hopes up. 

“The fact that he enjoyed it and was happy, sounds reason enough to argue he will not change”

“Many drug addicts love what they do more than anything in the world, they change their ways all the time, and that’s an addiction. That’s harder to change than habitual behaviours. People don’t stop doing something they enjoy unless they’re given a reason that is, to them, good enough. You’d be hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t consider being destroyed a damn good reason to at least try”. 

Danny watches the chained man, who’s staring defiantly at everyone and holding himself as straight as he can from his kneeling position; it’s clear he’s being aggressive and assertive, likely even trying to intimidate but, “I think my sister might have a point. I’ve seen horrible people change their ways before and if anyone is familiar with all the wrong this man has done, it's me”. Shaking his head at Jazz’s small smile, “I can’t say I believe he’ll truly change. But I can’t deny that it could be a possibility and that he may simply choose to behave even if he doesn’t want to”. 

Many Observants mutter around before one speaks up, “ClockWork, what say you? You have seen all he’s done in ways others have not, do you believe change is so much as an option?”.

ClockWork addresses the Observants in the form of an old man, “while I can not speak on his future from here, due to complications. I am inclined to agree with the King. Though, I will not claim to the same optimism as that of the princess”. 

The Observants return to muttering amongst themselves only for a short while, “we hear your plea and will grant that he not be destroyed, however, neither ClockWork nor King Phantom has the time to nor should they be burdened with, keeping watch over him”. A couple others nod in agreement and frankly, Danny knows having him watch over this man would be a bad idea. 

One of the Observants stands up, “I propose that since the princess is the only one to argue for him, that she take the duty herself”. Half the crowd gapes at this Observants as another, clearly unimpressed one, stands up, “how is a human girl to control him? Intelligent and capable though she maybe, that would not be enough should he act out”. 

“I am not some petulant child”, nearly everyone snaps around and watches the man cautiously now, as he’s spoken for the first time since arriving to be judged. 

Jazz takes this as her chance to interject, “I’ll take the responsibility if that’s what is needed for you to give him the chance to be different than he was”. Danny is once again baffled and rather freaked out at her, managing to maintain the demeanour of a king though, “I agree that this idea is far too dangerous. He has tried to kill or harm you explicitly before. He will do it again”. 

Jazz glares up at her brother, “if you assume he cannot change then he will not. I am not about to make that mistake. Your relationship is too personal with him for you to be objective about this”. Addressing everyone now, “I would think by now every Fenton has proved themselves capable of way more than ever expected. I understand the distrust towards him, but surely there can be a fail-safe of some kind”.

Everyone is silent for a while, excluding the Observants, as they debate options. Quickly electing that anything too restraining would only increase the likely hood of disobedience but that it would also need to be something constantly available to either put him down or seal him instantly; they did not want a repeat of Pariah. 

The head Observant stands to make the decision, as the chains holding the man despite, leaving only the collar, “he will remain bound as he is now and he will not be permitted to be further than 20 feet away from you at any given moment, excluding for extreme extraneous circumstances”. 

Jazz nods curtly though frowns, “while I do not approve of collaring anyone like an animal, it is clear to me you see no other options. I request it be removed if he does indeed prove himself”. 

“We will see about that, we will be watching for any slight misstep. On either of your parts”. 

Jazz looks the way she does when scolding her brother over washing the dishes, as she retorts, “then I must also ask you give him room to mess up, everyone relapses sometimes. You can not genuinely request he be perfect or wholly good”.

ClockWork speaks up before an annoyed Observant can, “biased though they maybe, they are perfectly capable of being fair”.

That same Observant, now glaring at ClockWork, “he will be granted no more wiggle room than any other ghost, anything beyond what could be reasonably classed as mischief or mild harm will not be ignored”. 

The man watches Jazz with scrunched eyebrows, never even acknowledging his collar as to not give the Observants the satisfaction, as the Observants call the trail concluded. 

Jazz spins around and gives him a soft though clearly strained smile and puts her hands on her hips, talking with warm friendly humour, “well, looks like you’re stuck with me. So I’m watching you, mister”. Jazz pats him on the arm before motioning him to follow as they go to level the courtroom. 

He tilts his head but follows after a beat, more out of curiosity and confusion than anything else. Coming up a bit behind her, arms crossed, “why? I tried to kill you and everyone else”.

Jazz smiles and closes her eyes softly as she turns her head back to him, “someone has to be objective and because that’s what sisters are for, my not so little brother”.

**End.**


	2. Evil As Plain A The Collar On His Neck

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danny’s revisiting the dating scene, but just what is Jazz doing here?

“And why do you have to come again?”

Jazz rolls her eyes, “mom and dad asked me to chaperone after what happened last time”. Danny can’t help but groan and cringe as he remembers the disastrous date with Star, which of course got interrupted by a ghost and resulted in him going home with shredded clothing.

Glaring at his sisters “charge” who snickers at Danny, which Jazz also rolls her eyes at, “you could at least try to get along”. Danny only glares at her incredulously for that, how could he ever get along with him.

But spotting his old, and possibly new, flame changes his mood, “hey Val!”. Catching his sister muttering at her “charge”, as Danny runs over to Valerie, “now don’t you go scaring her mister, or you will be in shit”. 

Danny can tell Valerie’s a bit confused, “try to ignore them. My parents are being a bit over bearing after my last date resulted in blood loss and ruined clothing”. Valerie snickers at that, “your entire family is wacky, including you”, shrugging, “but clearly my tastes are wack”.

“I’ll take wacky any day, much more interesting”, Danny chuckles as they take a seat together, with the other two close behind. 

Danny uses his menu to block out the other guy, which Valerie leans into to whisper at him, “let me guess, you don’t get along with Mr. tall, built, and brooding over there?”. Danny shakes his head and glares at the menu, “enemy is a pretty accurate descriptor. But where Jazz goes, It goes too”. 

“It? Now that’s just mean-”, the rest of Valerie’s comment gets cut off as Jazz clears her throat. Danny, lowering the menu, glares at her. Who rolls her eyes and points at the approaching waiter, resulting in Danny blushing a bit and mean chucking coming from across the table. 

“So what will you four being having to drink today?”, the two nineteen-year-olds order Faygo, Delicious Red for Valerie and Moon Mist for Danny. Lemon water for Jazz, who then glares at her “charge” as he orders a Green Lantern. He just shrugs, “it’s not like I’ve got a liver to piss off, and it’s not like I care”, while Danny’s just wondering where the hell he got an ID and what the hell’s even on it. Jazz rolls her eyes, “that stuff tastes awful though”. 

“He’s awful, so it fits”, Jazz glares at Danny. While Valerie talks over the strangers snickering, “okay, who are you? I thought I’d seen everyone in Amity and there’s no way I’d miss someone walking around with an oversized neon green collar”. Danny groans slightly as Jazz responds, “the big guys' name is Dan, bit of a trouble maker so he’s stuck with me”. Danny blinks at her incredulously, “a bit?”. While Dan smirks and stretches his arms over the back of his head, fully noticing Valerie trying to not stare at his muscular arms, “they could snap your damn neck”. 

Jazz shakes her head, “well, you lasted twenty minutes”, while Valerie glances at Danny. Patting her leg, “he won’t actually be doing that”. Muttering under his breath, “only because he isn’t allowed to”. 

Jazz snorts as Dan flat-out tosses the entire drink in his mouth, downing it in one gulp. While the waiter goes a bit bug-eyed, promptly bringing him another. Jazz cuts him off after the fourth, laughing, “I’m not rich! stop that!”, pointing at the waiter, “and you! Stop encouraging him!”. While Dan leans his head back and laughs, which is plain weird to Danny. Though he can’t help but laugh a little along with Valerie, while the waiter looks like he’s just had a damn good day. 

Eventually getting their food: caramelised salmon for Valerie, chicken penne for Danny, salad with garlic toast for Jazz; and, as per requested, the bloodiest thing they could serve, eight-ounce steak cooked blue with a side of ribs, for Dan. The waiter, looking at him, “just so you know, that is the single weirdest way anyone has ever requested for anything here”. Turning his head to the Fenton girl, “you Fenton’s sure like ‘em weird, don’tcha?”. 

Danny coughs into his hand a bit at that but eyes Jazz questioningly as she blushes, even more weirded out as she waves him off. 

Valerie’s not sure why Danny’s eyeing his sister oddly, the waiter wasn’t exactly wrong, she was definitely odd herself; though this guy’s odder. 

Shoving one of her green beans at Danny, who just takes it with his mouth and eats it. “So, you figured out how to fling yourself into the void of space yet?”, Danny chuckles at her question fully remembering promising to do so as his yearbook quote, “once or twice, still working on the “and die” part”. 

“The answer to that question has been around for fifth-teen years”, Danny glares at Dan and stabs at his noodles a bit aggressively. Dan smirks and violently snaps his teeth around a large piece of steak, loud enough to make the people across from them jump and scoot their chairs away a bit. 

Valerie points her fork at him, “you have issues”, while he digs in his mouth and pulls out a tooth he broke loose. Flicking it across the table, out of sight before it dissolves into ectoplasm, snickering, “your idea of issue, is my idea of a good time, little red birdy”. 

Valerie squints at him while Danny mildly chokes, glaring subtly at Dan. 

Jazz is torn between being slightly grossed out and wanting to giggle a bit, for being twenty-nine, the guy sure was an overdramatic baby, “you just have to be a mildly terrifying ball of tease, don’t you?”. 

Dan pokes her in the side, barely whispering, “I get my pleasures where I can”. Before ecto-zapping her lightly under the table, which she hits him playfully for, while he just snickers a bunch. Doing it more until she actually starts laughing, chuckling, “it’s my right by might, soft flower”. Dan leans back against the booth, satisfied, before biting clean through a rib bone; with one arm behind his head. 

Valerie will admit it’s a little adorable Jazz collecting herself and patting the huge guy on the head, which he seems quite pleased by. Danny must have some serious issues with Dan to look so put off though, he won’t admit it but he is rather protective of his sister. Well, ok, he’s protective of everyone actually. 

Elbowing him, “oh whatever, but since the party crashers are distracted...”. 

Danny decides to deal with whatever weirdness later in lue of taking the chance to kiss Valerie, not giving a damn that Dan probably noticed. While Dan and Jazz take turns ruffling up each others hair, though he takes the time to zap Danny purely to annoy him. 

Valerie has no clue what the zap was, there wasn’t supposed to be literal sparks flying, she also has no clue why Danny’s glaring at Dan again. 

Danny decides to roll with it, to not give Dan the satisfaction, smirking at him before turning and poking Valerie, “well, when sparks fly, the couple must surely be shockingly perfect”, with a shit-eating grin, “so clearly with us, lightning struck twice”. While Valerie snorts, Danny a bit surprised to see Dan looking rather amused while Jazz just groans. 

Dan, chuckling at Jazz, “with this weather, I’d say we could bolt and see if any actually strikes”. Danny can’t help but respond, “sounds like a killer idea to me”. Which Dan actually snorts at, while Jazz gapes excitedly, whispering, “did they just, get along?”. 

While Valerie mutters under her breath, “he’s like a jerkier version of Danny”. Which makes her blink, realising that makes it genuinely kind of weird that Jazz is clearly either dating or borderline dating this guy. Or they just have a really really weird version of friendship; Valerie’s not placing her bets on the last one though. But considering half the damn town seems to ship the Red Huntress with Phantom, and she’s not exactly entirely opposed to the idea; her eyes are just firmly elsewhere. So who was she to judge here.

It doesn’t take long after that for the waiter to bring them their bill. Unsurprisingly, Jazz pays for the tip and most of the meal thanks to a certain oversized someone. Poking at him with the bill as they all get up to leave, he shrugs, “could have just left, besides, money’s a human issue”. Jazz glares at him, “that’s wrong and even if you don’t care, I do”. Dan stretches his arms over his head, “everyone else's wrong, is my oh so very right”. Dan smirks knowing that was part of the allure of this thing with Jazz, along with annoying his younger self. Though he does find it odd, yet pleasant, that his affections are more genuine than that. Not that he’ll admit that to Danny. 

While Valerie and Danny walk a fair bit behind the older pair, “you’ve officially succeeded in giving me the weirdest date ever”. Danny smirks loosely and bumps his shoulder into hers, “so this mission to Venus was a success then?”. Rolling her eyes at him, “absolutely, you reckless space boy”. 

Not a single one jumps as a massive thunderclap goes off, rattling a few windows. Both Jazz and Valerie say to their respective ghostly men, “if I die, I’m dragging you down with me”. Both of whom responded, “guess I’ll die”. 

**End.**


End file.
